Hello, I read your post, and I had a very similar experience working as a Team Member and Barista for Teavana. I experienced the same baseless accusations, having to take the blame for the companies disorganization and incompetence, and thankfully quitting before I began associating the unethical, rude, and completely two faced environment of Teavana with my own personal great experience with drinking tea. I just wanted to tell you you are not alone, and it is admirable that you so articulately described the true nature of how Teavana works. It must be hard to go through that, but it is good to know that at least one other person in this world thinks that it is important to serve customers rather than manipulate them.

I have been in a Teavana store 3 or 4 times. There are 3 in my area and I've been to all of them. The first 2 stores I went to the associates were very pushy and I felt overwhelmed being new to tea at the time. I however wasn't going to buy something I didn't want/need. So each time I made my purchase and left feeling that the salespeople were way to pushy and not satisfied with my small purchase. I have worked in sales and management for several years and I felt that Teavana's tactics were just awful and I would never ever train my employees to be that pushy or obnoxious.

This last time I went to a different location. This I have to say is probably one of the better Teavana locations out there! The young man that helped me did a fantastic job. He asked me if I'd been to Teavana before and I said yes. He then reminded me that prices on the tea were for 2oz. Which I was surprised that he mentioned it since one of the shady things they do is fail to mention that. I told him exactly what I needed 2oz of 1 tea and 4 of another. He did not attempt to overfill the bags at all! He got the 4oz right on the dot then the other one at 2.1oz which I told him was fine when he started to dump some out. I want to call and brag on him b/c he was so kind and not at all pushy, he sold me what I wanted and did not pressure me to buy more. However, if I call and brag on him I'm afraid he'll get in trouble for not going through the top down sales procedure. :-/

I really do hate going into the Teavana stores. I usually buy my bulk teas at health food stores or order from other vendors online.

I feel like most people here are way too cynical for their own good.....maybe even stupid. I literally created an account just to set everyone straight because this is plain stupid. First of all, the person that "created" this story and post is a liar. They wrote in another forum that they quit when a manager took over their sale and then later on in the post she linked to this post she made and now she says she quit when because they blamed her for stealing. I can see how low sales/foot traffic can lead to high stress among a store's employees but if managers aren't meeting those same goals, they would be in trouble too. People also need to realize this is a business. Tea and it's benefits are a relatively new concept to most people in the US so, even though people take it as pushy, it's informative and increases sales. I agree, making a customer feel pushed and uncomfortable is a self destructive business plan but it may just be the person trying to meet their goals. Teavana is a sales oriented business like every other BUSINESS and people need to realize that. If you're a terrible sales person and you can't perform under pressure, be a librarian.

Shhhchildren wrote:I feel like most people here are way too cynical for their own good.....maybe even stupid. I literally created an account just to set everyone straight because this is plain stupid. First of all, the person that "created" this story and post is a liar. They wrote in another forum that they quit when a manager took over their sale and then later on in the post she linked to this post she made and now she says she quit when because they blamed her for stealing. I can see how low sales/foot traffic can lead to high stress among a store's employees but if managers aren't meeting those same goals, they would be in trouble too. People also need to realize this is a business. Tea and it's benefits are a relatively new concept to most people in the US so, even though people take it as pushy, it's informative and increases sales. I agree, making a customer feel pushed and uncomfortable is a self destructive business plan but it may just be the person trying to meet their goals. Teavana is a sales oriented business like every other BUSINESS and people need to realize that. If you're a terrible sales person and you can't perform under pressure, be a librarian.

Shhhchildren wrote:I can see how low sales/foot traffic can lead to high stress among a store's employees but if managers aren't meeting those same goals, they would be in trouble too. People also need to realize this is a business...<snip> even though people take it as pushy, it's informative and increases sales...<snip>Teavana is a sales oriented business like every other BUSINESS and people need to realize that.

Pitch a sale, then pitch even harder, then balls out lie to your customers in order to make your sales goals? What a shill.

The ends do not justify the means here. If you can't make your sales quota without lying, the quota is too high. If that high quota is necessary to keep the doors open, the business model needs serious readjustment.

Pitch all you want, but the "businesses are businesses and need to make money" point, while true, never justifies unethical business practice, period.

Shhhchildren wrote:I feel like most people here are way too cynical for their own good.....maybe even stupid. I literally created an account just to set everyone straight because this is plain stupid. First of all, the person that "created" this story and post is a liar. They wrote in another forum that they quit when a manager took over their sale and then later on in the post she linked to this post she made and now she says she quit when because they blamed her for stealing. I can see how low sales/foot traffic can lead to high stress among a store's employees but if managers aren't meeting those same goals, they would be in trouble too. People also need to realize this is a business. Tea and it's benefits are a relatively new concept to most people in the US so, even though people take it as pushy, it's informative and increases sales. I agree, making a customer feel pushed and uncomfortable is a self destructive business plan but it may just be the person trying to meet their goals. Teavana is a sales oriented business like every other BUSINESS and people need to realize that. If you're a terrible sales person and you can't perform under pressure, be a librarian.

Maybe I think too much... But I feel your post (and a few people talking like you earlier in this thread) does more damage to Teavana's reputation than op's story. My local Teavana is fine. Overpriced, but staff are nice. But I read a lot of stories like op's, some from people I know. So I can't agree with you about op is lying.

In my eyes, some Teavana salespersons being pushy (and sometimes improper operations) doesn't make Teavana a bad business overall, because Teavana is big, and I have no idea how many stores are good, how many stores are not as good. But what you (and a few others claimed to be "manager level" Teavana employees) said make me feel being pushy, fool people about tea's benefits, snob people into spending money... are top-down strategies systematically used in the company. To be honest, I don't want to believe it. I still hope Teavana, although a big corporation, is better operated and more ethical than most other big corporations because it can surely make contributions to expanding tea culture.

So I don't know what to believe. If you are really an employee of Teavana, then I have to say, Teavana is worse than I had thought and your philosophy of business stinks. Or are you just here to further defame Teavana (because that's the effect that you've generated)? In either situation, I feel people shouldn't take your words seriously.

Shhhchildren wrote:I feel like most people here are way too cynical for their own good.....maybe even stupid. I literally created an account just to set everyone straight because this is plain stupid. First of all, the person that "created" this story and post is a liar. They wrote in another forum that they quit when a manager took over their sale and then later on in the post she linked to this post she made and now she says she quit when because they blamed her for stealing. I can see how low sales/foot traffic can lead to high stress among a store's employees but if managers aren't meeting those same goals, they would be in trouble too. People also need to realize this is a business. Tea and it's benefits are a relatively new concept to most people in the US so, even though people take it as pushy, it's informative and increases sales. I agree, making a customer feel pushed and uncomfortable is a self destructive business plan but it may just be the person trying to meet their goals. Teavana is a sales oriented business like every other BUSINESS and people need to realize that. If you're a terrible sales person and you can't perform under pressure, be a librarian.

Oh, so you're saying that if we can't take it then we shouldn't be there? I always knew Teavana was a sales oriented business. I knew if I couldn't take the pressure I wouldn't last but, what I didn't know at the time is what you don't know now... Or much rather over looked in this thread!Yes, there was a lot of pressure but, that was NO excuse for the abuse that some of us have endured. They seldom gave me breaks. I was denied my lunch break for a week straight that's seven days worth of legal violations! Don't get me started on how they attempted to defraud me either. Ugh!Its one thing to have an overly pushy sales team but, its an entirely different thing to breed them! I can tell you without a doubt that the stress was brought on by the managers. Rude customers, and forgetting lines where nothing compared to how that manager treated me... treated us.Even if the customers/foot traffic and routines were frustrating it was nothing that we couldn't handle. It was the unreasonable expectations of the keyholders and their insidious methods of keeping us "sharp"I take it this was your first post here in this forum. I am pretty much sure it is. I wouldn't be surprised it was your last post too. (I hope it is)Typical tactics from that tactless business.

I would rather be a stupid teavana flunky than be a corporate drone for that sociopathic numbers racket. I mean Tea Store.

It seems to me from what I've read here that Teavana aims at newbies and doesn't really care about having devoted costumers. Here in Greece(a veritable tea wilderness) the few teashops that are here are such a joy to visit. They are run by people that love tea. I have never visited one without being offered a cup of tea and have never left with out some small gift being put into the bag with my purchases. For that reason I always do the bulk of my tea shopping with them even though I can find better values on the internet. I guess that as tea goes more "mainstream" in the west we will have more Teavanas. Mores the pity.